Britain could never have imagined that the two dissidents it allegedly helped
Muammar Gaddafi’s regime to render and detain eight years ago would this
week be campaigning to become members of Libya’s interim parliament in
national elections next month.

But Abdel Hakim Belhadj emerged as a leading fighter in the revolution that
overthrew the former dictator last summer, and Sami al-Saadi, a less
well-known figure, also has political aspirations. The pair have gone from
being members of an outlawed dissident group that plotted against Gaddafi
and at one time allegedly had links with al-Qaeda to be part of a wave